A progressive outlook on politics in Australia and abroad

The illusion of rationality

The remaining instalments in the ongoing review of The Political Mind on ScienceBlogs have been delayed, so here’s something on a related note. Jonah Lehrer writes about the implicit assumption we make that voting, and all other decisions we make, are rational. In emphasising the way that factors outside of our awareness can influence our voting, I think Lehrer overstates things – our voting choice is not entirely made on rational grounds, but neither is it purely based on the subconscious effect of news anchors’ nonverbal cues.

There are also some interesting questions to explore about individual differences – does increasing political sophistication and knowledge make it more likely that a person will engage in rational policy analysis, or could it also mean that their ideological preference will be more entrenched? Or to reverse the question, are politically naive voters more likely to be susceptible to influence by non-rational cues? These questions become especially relevant in a country with compulsory voting.